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May 17, 2007

G40: Red Sox 4, Tigers 2

Eric Hinske, after sprinting, diving, and catching a line drive hit towards the right-field corner in the fifth inning, landing hard, smashing his face against the dirt track in foul territory, crushed a two-run home run in the seventh inning, breaking a 2-2 tie.

Schilling (6-8-2-4-6, 118) was somehow able to allow four walks, 1 hit batter, seven doubles and a home run and still come away with only two runs allowed. The Tigers left the bases loaded in the first and second innings.

Terry Francona said David Ortiz was ill and almost scratched from the first game. He will sit out tonight's game, Francona said, with Manny serving as DH and Wily Mo Pena playing left field. Francona said J.D. Drew will try to play tonight, but he wanted to watch him hit in the cage first before he made that decision.

Back in the old days (pre Tony LaRussa) guys like Face and Radatz came out of the pen late with runners on and killed the rally, aka 'firemen'. Those that couldn't, threw gas on the fire. You don't want your releivers earning a nickname like 'gasolina'.

A good win. I must remember this when Sox strand a bunch of runners and lose. Er, we did that Friday night.

"Jonathan, we call him 'Gasolina,'" said Tavarez. "This guy goes six, seven days without pitching and then he goes out there and throws 95, 96 without walking anybody. No panic with Pap. Once the game gets to the ninth inning, it's over. That's how we see it with Jonathan."

I left the game with Schill putting people on in the 3rd and did not expect to come home tonight to check to the scores and see another W. I had already chalked it up, more or less, considering the way that Curt was pitching.

Wait wait wait. Re: the update (Catch Me if You Can)... I'm not a terribly superstitious person in general, I'm a scientist, and if you asked me to define my religious beliefs I'd say agnostic with atheistic tendencies.

But I would never, NEVER, tempt fate by daring the Yankees to catch us. Not even with a 55 game lead and 56 games left in the season.

Of course, I also refused to wear anything but my Papelbon t-shirt for the games in the Yankees series, and briefly thought that I might have jinxed its lucky properties by washing it between games. So... yeah. What is it about baseball that makes otherwise rational beings freak out in this way? Or is it just residual from the 1918-2004 period?

Wait wait wait. Re: the update (Catch Me if You Can)... I'm not a terribly superstitious person in general ... But I would never, NEVER, tempt fate by daring the Yankees to catch us.

Fate, Schmate. We ran Fate off our property for good a couple of years ago. He ain't comin' back.

I've (We've) dealt with too much shit in my (our) baseball pasts to worry about what might happen if we taunt, goad and kick a certain team when they are down. (It comes a little too close to the spiritual crap CHB peddles. (Though I have been known to wear a certain shirt to help Ortiz pop one.))

Nothing in baseball can ever hurt me like 2003 did. It can't. I am now bulletproof. ... I'm having fun.

Enjoy their misfortune, revel in it, roll around in it and giggle like Orsillo after two joints in the 8th inning of a blowout, throw it in the face of any MFY fan you see (you know they'd be doing it to us without fear of any future consequences).

"you know they'd be doing it to us without fear of any future consequences"

They do it to us now! I've recently had a Yankee fan comment on my blog how we'll lose the division, simply because we haven't won it in a while. (I can think of something else we've won recently.)

So who's taking the bigger risk? The one bragging while his team's way behind or us? You're right, they don't care about consequences, why should anybody else? Maybe if we all have a more positive attitude, they'll stop bragging in a current world where only we should be allowed to brag.